Cyclorama

The Atlanta Cyclorama is currently closed to the public. The Battle of Atlanta painting is currently being restored and then moving it to the Atlanta History Center. The Atlanta History Center “intends to restore The Battle of Atlanta painting to its full hyperbolic (hourglass) shape, size and overall height while recreating the 128-year-old painting’s original visual perspective, which has been lost for nearly a century.” The restoration began in early December 2015 and is expected to be complete in 2017/2018.

Information about the former Atlanta Cyclorama located next to Zoo Atlanta:

Until December of 2015, the Atlanta Cyclorama building displayed The Battle of Atlanta painting as a cylendrical painting featuring a panoramic view of the American Civil War. The cyclorama was painted from 1885 to 1886 by the American Panorama Company and depicts the Battle of Atlanta. Standing 42 feet high and stretching 358 feet in circumference, the Cyclorama was the largest oil painting in the world until 2004. In 1932, a diorama was added, creating 30 feet of depth to the painting.

Tours were conducted every hour on the half hour, from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. The tour took approximately 40 minutes and included two parts. In part one of the tour, visitors enjoyed a 14 minute film that gave the history of events leading to the Battle of Atlanta. In part two of the tour, visitors entered the cyclorama to experience the battle through special lighting, sound effects, music and narration while viewing the rotating battle scene.

The Atlanta Cyclorama was housed in the Atlanta Cyclorama museum located in historic Grant Park, adjacent to Zoo Atlanta. The museum also included pictures and artifacts from the war as well as The Texas, a steam locomotive made famous during the Great Locomotive Chase of the Civil War.

Beginning in 2018, The Battle of Atlanta painting will be displayed in the Lloyd and Mary Ann Whitaker Cyclorama Building on the Atlanta History Center’s 33-acre Buckhead campus. There visitors can view The Battle of Atlanta painting in its full hyperbolic (hourglass) shape, size and overall height in the 128-year-old painting’s original visual perspective as it was originally intended to be viewed when it was painted in 1886.

The Atlanta History Center is also the new home for the Texas (formerly also displayed in the old Atlanta Cyclorama building), where it will be permanently featured in a custom-built glass-walled enclosure where it will be illuminated at night and clearly visible from the outside from West Paces Ferry Road.